Securing the Right to Land FULL - ANGOC

Stanvac, Total Oil Company, etc. are examples of big corporations
that are able to influence the policies of the Indonesian
Government in regard to land and other natural resources.
The second factor is the inefficiency of production which is the
legacy of many years of feudalism. Where modern technology
has been introduced, this has benefitted not the small peasants
but big local businessmen, big landowners, and transnational
agricultural corporations.
Third, is state violence and the anti-democratic, anti-people,
and anti-peasant policies of the Government. Successive administrations
have used draconian measures intended to maintain
the security of the state, particularly in the face of agrarian
unrest. Peasant leaders have been arrested, jailed, and even
murdered. Cases like these have taken place in Bulukumba
(South Sulawesi), Garut, Subang, Pangalengan, Bogor, Sumedang,
and Ciamis (West Java), Banyumas and Wonosobo (Central
Java), Manggarai (East Nusa Tenggara), Muko-Muko (Bengkulu),
Labuhan Batu and Porsea (North of Sumatra), Sesepa-Luwu and
Dongi-Dongi (Central Sulawesi), Lombok (West Nusa Tenggara),
Halmahera (Northern Mollucas), and Banyuwangi and Pasuruan
(East Java).
The State uses violence to put down local resistance to many
state or corporate infrastructure projects funded by multilateral
financial institutions, such as the ADB and the WB. These infrastructure
projects generally infringe on the land rights of local
communities, particularly indigenous peoples. Infrastructure
projects are Yudhoyono’s second priority after the expansion of
big-plantation areas for bio-fuel energy.
Civil society organizations and NGOs in Indonesia are conducting
their advocacy work in response to the abovementioned
THE PERSISTENCE OF POPULAR WILL
101
analysis of the country’s agrarian crisis. A number of them are
demanding the cancellation of all infrastructure projects and
debt problems. These groups include peasant movements such
as AGRA (Alliance of Agrarian Reform Movement), STN (Serikat
Tani Nasional), API (Aliansi Petani Indonesia), Petani Mandiri,
and other social movements. Since the 1990s the networks of
NGOs and a number of progressive intellectuals have played an
important role in promoting land rights. These are Bina Desa, KPA
(Konsorsium Pembaruan Agraria), Walhi (Wahana Lingkungan
Hidup Indonesia), and YLBHI (Yayasan Lembaga Bantuan
Hukum Indonesia).
The Indonesian peasant movement is demanding an end to
state violence directed at their sector, and the release of peasant
leaders that have been thrown in prison on the basis of
anti-peasant laws. At the same time, the Indonesian peasant
movement rejects the plan of the current government to repeal
the Basic Agrarian Law of 1960 (UUPA). The draft law intended
to replace the UUPA strongly favors the interests of big landowners.
It totally rescinds the spirit and intent of the UUPA to
carry out agrarian reform.
Strategies to Advance Access
to Land and Tenurial Security
Maximizing Opportunities Made Available by
the RPPK Policy
The RPPK outlines the policy of the Yudhoyono government in
discussing, evaluating, and resolving problems in the agricultural
sector, particularly in regard to farming, plantations, fisheries,
and forestry, and especially those arising since the
1997-1998 economic crisis.
In other words, the policy defines the government’s strategy to
address challenges that affect farmers, farm workers, fishers,
forest dwellers, and other poor communities. The RPPK is a
starting point for observers attempting to understand how the
Yudhoyono government intends to address poverty in the country
and to improve the lives of farmers. For the present, at least,
the RPPK would be judged according to the actions of the government
in the past two years (2005–2007).
The RPPK emphasizes not just production and economic aspects,
but ideological ones as well. The ideology behind the
RPPK policies demands that agricultural revitalization must be
ASIAN NGO COALITION FOR AGRARIAN REFORM AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT